Family

My brother and his kids came to visit from Colorado last week. Griffin's cousin Nora is 5 months older than him and let me tell you, these two kids love each other sooo much. From the moment Griffin saw Nora at my mom's house, he refused to come home. He stayed the night over there every night she was there. They had breakfast together, they pretended to be pirates together, they took baths together. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Not to mention that I enjoyed the little vacation of having my evenings and mornings to just relax while he stayed at my mom's.

After they left on Sunday, we distracted Griffin with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheeses and it seemed to cheer him up a bit. Well, it all caught up with him last at about 6pm. His bottom lip pooched out and he said as he fought back tears "Why do people have to leave?" I sat next to him and put my arm around him, which seemed to annoy him more than anything. I said "It's ok to be sad that Nora went home." In which he replied, "I'M NOT SAD!" at the top of his lungs. I tried to coax him outside to play for a distraction but halfway through the living room he through himself on the ground and had a good cry. He crawled up in my lap and I just held him as he continued to insist that he wasn't sad between sobs. Eventually, he feel alseep in Roger's lap on the living room floor. We gently put him in bed for the night as he whimpered in his sleep and he slept for 13 hours. Poor little guy was feeling some big emotions.

That's the hard part about loving someone so much. I think that today were going to paint a picture to send to Nora in Colorado and he can insist with every brush stroke that he's not sad and that there is no way that he misses his lovely cousin Nora. Oh...to be 3 again!

Leigh vs. bath toys!

I have come to terms with the fact that I really am at war with my home. I want to be at peace with it, I really do. Yet, small battles lay before me everyday. This week...bath toys. I have never in my life seen so many bath toys fit in such a small tub with such a small child. They seem to multiply each night as Griffin insists that Shrek simply has to take a bath with him. Along with his entire shark adventure play set and let's not forget scuba Steve. I can't say no, after all, bath time was one my favorite parts of childhood. The more toys the better right?

Well, it's time for mommy to sort through the toys, invest in a good bath toy container, and reclaim my bathroom floor. My bathroom has looked like this for a week and a half and every time I go in there to powder my nose, I noticed that the pile has grown. For now, the bath toys are winning. I will win this battle and defeat the mess that lays before me. In the bathroom at least.


BTW...the laundry pile is winning to. Except now it is contained to laundry baskets that have folded clean clothes that never get put away. At least the dirty clothes are no longer contaminating the clean clothes.

The battle rages on!

I am a hilly terrain

Here I am...16 weeks pregnant and already I am as big as I was at 20 weeks when I was pregnant the first time. I am trying to be okay with this, I am trying to go with the flow.

My boobs are huge. I went to get a bra fitting the other day and I am a 38 D. I was a 34 B 16 weeks ago. My boobs look like huge baby bottles. I am a walking baby factory.

I have a dangerous craving...Chic-fil-a chicken biscuits in the morning. I am wearing those biscuits on my ass. Yes...my ass is huge.

I am growing a southern baby for sure. Lately I call it "biscuit baby." My self esteem is waning. I'm just a series of lumps. Just like Fergie said...My lovely lady humps.

A "Griffin's in charge" photoshoot

The other afternoon Griffin and i headed outside to play (remember my pledge to toss him outside more often?) I fetched the camera on the way out the door and Griffin instantly started posing and setting up shots. This is what went down...
That first shot is entitled "Hey mom, take a picture of me running up the driveway!"

This one is called "Oh, let's take a picture of me digging now!"

These shots are entitled "Now, take a picture of me jumping!"

The final shot is called "You gotta get a picture of my rock collection!"
It was a great afternoon.

R.I.P. Shiner

It's a bad week to be a fish at our house. 2 our fishes have come down with Ick. We lost our beloved goldfish Shiner last night. Poor guy fought until the bitter end. Now we have one other fish named Miracle who is in a bad way. He's just swimming in circles and then taking breaks in the grass then floating around and then spinning some more and then going limp. Poor guy should bite the big one by mid-afternoon. Long live our sweet little fishes!

I learned something amazing today

I enjoy looking up what my babies development each for each new week. I'm at 14 weeks and discovered something fascinating today.
"Your baby now has fingerprints! Believe it or not, he actually created them himself while swimming around in the amniotic fluid. As he moved his hands, the skin on the tips of his fingers formed unique ridges and folds. That's why no one on earth has the same fingerprints, not even identical twins! Cool, right? Baby's arms are now in proportion to his tiny body, but his legs are still on the short size in comparison."

Pretty amazing huh? I made fingerprints today without even trying!

What I am loving these days...

Here are some things that I am surrounding myself with these day to make me happy.

First of all, I am loving this artwork by Nikki Mcclure that I discovered at buyolympia.com. She uses an x-acto knife to cut her designs into paper. All of her images are so simple and honest. She has a deep connection to motherhood. These images make me feel strong and capable as I journey into this pregnancy and reminds me to take a deep breath and trust my body. It gently empowers me to feel the strength it takes to truly surrender to this process and try to enjoy to enjoy the loss of control..


I am also reading the best book. It's called Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. It is so masterfully written that it moves me to work on my own little story that I have brewing in my head. Barbara's writing is seductive and colorful. She makes me want to be a better writer. Here is a juicy little excerpt to make you want more.
"She opened her eyes then, to make this real and possible, that they were kissing and lying down in the cold leaves. falling together like a pair of hawks, not plummeting through thin air but rolling gradually downhill over adder's tongues and poisonous Amanitas. At the bottom of the hill they came to rest, his body above hers."
See what I mean? Beautifully imagery. I can't read it fast enough!

I was going to make this a longer post but I am still figuring out the layout of this Blog business and what you just looked took me about an hour to layout. I'm bored of this now and I'm going to sack out on the couch and watch The Hills on Tivo. My mom has Griffin for the night and relaxation is on the top of my list of things to do. So, I guess that sitting on the couch and drooling on myself should be on the top of this list.

Inspiration

So my friend MJ, who I find to be rather dreamy and talented, came over for a "kitchen cut" the other day. I love it when MJ comes over because we have those conversations that just flow and don't ever seem to stop. Long after her hair is cut and styled we will sit at my dining room table and just groove. It's refreshing.

Anyway, she told me about this great blog called SouleMama and I must say that this woman is on fire with creativity and beauty. I've taken to reading her older posts and catching up with her life whenever I have a free moment. Although I know that I will never be the type of woman who has a fertile garden or cans food for the long winter, I have my own sense of soul. My house is not littered with wooden toys but plastic Walmart toys that my son adores. I'm okay with this. Yet, I find this stranger's life to be intoxicating and it has inspired me to create a list of changes I'd like to make in my life or home.

Here ya have it...
1. Turn the TV off. This is a hard one. I have no excuse and I admit that I love PBS and let Griffin watch too much TV. He loves it of course as well as mom loves a break in the afternoon while he watches Clifford the Big Red Dog and I can drift off into my world. Yet, Clifford leads to Curious George and from there the shows unravel and before we know it, the afternoon is gone. No more. I'm gonna bust out Candy land or construct a Hot Wheels track.

2. I've got to worry less. Yesterday I found out that our tap water is contaminated with ROCKET FUEL! Holy crap...I'm growing a baby and I've been drinking ROCKET FUEL! Although this is horrible and scary, I can't dwell on it. Nor can I sit around and torture myself worrying about the war in Iraq or the "bailout" or whatever other crap is happening out there in the world. It's one thing to be informed and active. It's another to lose sleep at night over things that I have no control over. So I will buy bottled water and not obsess over this issue anymore. I hope!

3. We need to spend more time outside. Screw the mosquitoes and the heat. I need to throw my kid outside more and let him get down and dirty. With the arrival of fall will come cooler weather and a chance to soak in some fresh air.

Okay, that's all I got as of now. I need to go dye my hair and drink a bottled water. As the tiny epiphanies come and shake up my little world I will jot down my inspirations. No matter how simple or silly they may be.